Author: mgherika

Angels form a significant part of Christmas legends. In Greek, the word ‘angel’ means messengers. In the popular Christmas stories, angels are the messengers of God, who played a prominent part in the birth of Lord Jesus Christ. They are personified as heavenly creatures with a pair of wings and a halo. The wings symbolize immortality, virtue, peace, love, cleanliness and innocence, while the halo is the symbol of their native to heaven. Many fairy tales and bedtime stories are centered on them and their good deeds done to humankind. Read on to know more about Christmas angels.

Charles Dickens, author of the classic novel, A Christmas Carol, died before completing his final novel in 1870. The Mystery of Edwin Drood was being published in installments. Some speculate that Dickens maintained his loyalty to his readers post mortem by finishing his novel through a medium in Brattleborro,Vermont.

Even the bravest of mortals quailed before the wrath of night goblins, as shown by a tale of ancient Japan. In that country there lived a nobleman named Raiko, who boldly undertook to rid the city of Kyoto of its demons. Retaliation by the fiends of darkness was swift. A wasting fever struck the hero. For many days and nights he lay in his chamber, guarded by companions but assailed by sick fancies. And on a night a-swarm with dreams, the visions gathered solid form. Raiko awoke and found himself chained to his pallet by countless silken filaments. Above him waved many-jointed, bristling legs. Huge eyes glittered. Raiko had become a spider’s prey.

This is one of my favorite ghost stories from my home state of New Hampshire…

Elizabeth and James Wilson were Irish immigrants from Londonderry, Ireland. In 1720 they set sail for America. They had been granted some land in Londonderry, New Hampshire, and were hoping to start a new life there.

When the coffin lid shut upon a corpse, it marked the slamming of the door between the worlds of dead and living. That portal opened only in one direction, and none might learn what lay beyond until their own last day and hour. But there were always those of inquiring mind who, undeterred by ancient taboo, craved to uncover these secrets. In northern Italy the tale was told of an old peasant couple, dwelling in a remote hill village, who made a pact to help each other penetrate the mystery. Sitting one night by the fire, talking of life and death, they swore a solemn vow: Whoever went first to the land of mists should return to tell the other what waited beyond the grave.

The tribes ofAustralia’s riverlands told of a season when their ancestors were plagued by an unknown destroyer. Young men went on walkabout and never returned, mothers woke to find their children snatched from their sides, men standing sentry were seized if their weary eyes closed for an instant.

Among the various sorts of ghosts that confronted travelers, few were as piteous as the navky, haunters of Slavic lands. They were the spirits of children who had died un-baptized or at their mother’s hands.